You can't buy your way out of dumb, RDean, no matter how much money is thrown at you.
School districts had total expenditures of approximately $596.6 billion in 2007–08, including about $506.8 billion in current expenditures for public elementary and secondary education. Of the remaining expenditures, nearly $65.8 billion was spent on capital outlay, almost $15.7 billion on interest payments on debt, and $8.3 billion on other programs (including programs such as community services and adult education, which are not a part of public elementary and secondary education).
After adjustment for inflation, current expenditures per student in fall enrollment at public schools rose during the 1980s, remained stable during the first part of the 1990s, and rose again after 1992–93. There was an increase of 37 percent from 1980–81 to 1990–91; a change of less than 1 percent from 1990–91 to 1994–95 (which resulted from small decreases at the beginning of this period, followed by small increases after 1992–93); and an increase of 32 percent from 1994–95 to 2007–08. In 2007–08, current expenditures per student in fall enrollment were $10,297 in unadjusted dollars. In 2007–08, some 55 percent of students in public schools were transported at public expense at a cost of $854 per pupil transported, also in unadjusted dollars.
Money doesn't seem to be working.
Start with teaching your children some values at home
Exactly.
Having the
time to teach values at home was possible during the postwar years when a family could survive on the father's wages and benefits. Indeed, because of the old Liberal/New Deal wage structure, the mother could afford to stay at home and raise the children. The father also had more time to be at home for the family. This structure was made possible because of the government imposed compromise between capital and Labor.
While paying such high wages had obvious drawbacks, there were some incredible benefits. For one, the high wage structure resulted in the greatest consumption economy on earth. Why? Because unlike 3rd world laborers which made pennies a day, the American working class could
actually afford to buy what they produced. Meaning: high wages and benefits resulted in massive consumer demand. And what happens when there is massive consumer demand? The capitalist must innovate and add jobs to capture that demand.
The high wages, benefits, and entitlements of the postwar years lead to a golden era of capitalism - a time when more Americans had a slice of the American dream, and average workers could send their kids to college. Why? because
Government invested tax dollars into the creation of world class public universities, i.e., affordable education for the masses. And the result? America lead the world in education and upward mobility for the poor). Of course this was before the wealthy began to attack public schools for the purpose of lowering the tax burden on the wealthy (which was high in order to sustain a powerful middle class).
In the 70's, once Germany and Japan re-industrialized and began to encroach on America's postwar manufacturing dominance, Capital grew restless. Their restlessness made sense because less money was coming in. Point is: concessions to labor were getting tougher to swallow. So what did capital do? It invested heavily in a political party.
Enter Ronald Reagan, who was sent to Washington to reverse Labor's long held advantage over capital - an advantage built by 45 years of Liberal hegemony. Reagan convinced America to un-burden capital from the taxes, regulations, and over-priced labor of the postwar years. He said that this would create efficiency gains which would deliver more jobs, more innovation, and cheaper prices for all. America listened and spent the next 30 years under the spell of Reaganomics. Oddly, the jobs didn't really trickle down as promised; they trickled overseas to sweatshops.
Under Reagan, the working and middle class - having lost wages and benefits - required more and more debt to maintain purchasing power and standard of living. [Morning in America was actually the golden age of credit-based consumption. Google this for yourself. Look at the amount of debt American families assumed starting with Reagan. It will blow your mind. America was fooled into thinking that their postwar prosperity had returned. In truth, they were entering a 30 year credit-orgy which would end in the death of the American economy: sorry folks, you can't borrow forever] Because Reagan destroyed the old Liberal wage/benefit structure, each successive president had to figure out a different set of bubble-&-credit gimmicks to make up for the lack of real wages (which fueled consumption). Meanwhile, because of their tax breaks and lowered labor costs, the wealthy saw unprecedented gains.
[Worse, the wealthy had so much surplus capital that Wall Street struggled to find sufficient investment opportunities; therefore, they invented one hedge and derivative ponzi scheme after another. Reagnaomics underfunded the "consumption" class (which meant they had to over-rely on credit), while, at the same time, over-funding the investment class (which meant they over-invested in risky garbage). In short, the distribution scheme created by Reagan turned into a disaster for both the real economy of goods and services, and the Wall Street economy of investments and financialization]
The middle class was told that the money from the unprecedented gains would trickle down - but what they actually saw was a 30 year erosion of wages and benefits as capital was freed to pursue Mexican, Asian, and 3rd world sweatshop labor.
If not the middle class, where did the profits trickle down to? Answer: politicians, think tanks, and popular media. The wealthy used their profits to launch an ideological war against everything which put upward pressure on taxes, including public infrastructure and public education. They paid an army of statisticians and media personalities to convince America that it should no longer fund
anything. Indeed, everything - and I mean everything - formerly done for the middle class would now be cut in order to give more tax cuts to the wealthy. And where did the tax cuts get re-invested: Government and Media . . . so that they could keep the ruse going.
American swallowed poison in 1980. The patient is almost dead.
